The Wizard, the Alchemist, and the Hunter
by BIRDZILLA
Summary: A dangerous Wizard has escaped from Australia and Imogen is set on his trail, while forced to attend school at the same time,Ed meanwhile is teaching alchemy in hogwarts in exchange for learning magic; set after promised day and in OOP book
1. The game begins

**The Wizard, the Alchemist, and the Hunter**

**BirdZilla: for those of you who have read this before… I have made some adjustments to the plot, mainly concerning Edward and his position within Hogwarts… I felt that the change was necessary, but my Ocs' plot will remain the same.**

**This is slow Ch, chock-a-block of ocs u probably won't see after this… but it is a necessary evil.**

**For those who haven't read this before, : D! enjoy! **

**Chapter one: The Game begins **

Imogen was walking as slowly as possible towards the room which her "managers" had summoned her from her history class. She had no patience or desire to see these people right now, especially since they had interrupted her classes- history happened to be a favorite.

She swung the door open allowing it to bang loudly against the wall as she surveyed the room and its inhabitants. There were six people in the room, three men and three women. One of the women was her transfiguration teacher- she had been in the process of handing out snacks, but stopped dead at her arrival.

She was a short woman with fading brown hair cropped neatly under her chin. She was also very pale; her skin was the type that made getting a tan impossible for she burned easily when she stayed too long out in the sun. Though she was very gifted in transfiguration, she was not very gifted when it came to kids; in a nutshell, she was terrified of them, especially Imogen.

"I-I shall be leaving you to it then." And she all but flew out of the room, sparing Imogen one terrified look.

"Good to see you came on time Miss Brandwick, albeit a few minutes late." Said Shane, the stocky man who's most attractive feature was his nose, which had somehow managed to escape being mauled by some creature with claws unlike the rest of his face, neck and chest.

"My apologies, but this school is rather big and this room is on the opposite end from the class I just came from." As usual Imogen replied her mono tone voice, dead and devoid of any respectable emotion. It was more than they deserved to get from her these days.

"Apology noted." Shane grumbled.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"

"Alec has escaped."

A deathly silence descended on the room.

Imogen, did not move, her face blank as she continued to stare in shock at the woman who had delivered the news. Dora, Imogen remembered, the plump woman who had a suffocating motherly nature.

As she stood still trying to process the information she became aware of the barley concealed fear of her "managers" as they waited with baited breath for her reaction. Thomas, the thin man with the Obsessive Compulsive disorder, had his hand clutched tightly around something in his jacket pocket, a wand most likely, ready to defend himself at a moment's notice.

Imogen snorted, turned around grabbed a chair from the corner of the room and sat down, Imogen fort the urge to roll her eyes as she watched the group visibly relax, Thomas though, did not let go of his wand.

"Is that so?" Imogen asked filling in the gap of conversation, she had suspected that the meeting had something to do with him…. But she had not expected him to have escaped…

"Yes," said the ancient looking man at the back. Robert was his name and he had been in the group the longest, ever since she could remember he had been here; out of all of the five she liked him the most, but at the same time, hated him as she hated them all.

"And he has fled to Europe." Robert finished.

"We remembered the difficulty we had capturing him last time- so we have come to ask of you a favor." Said Rose, the youngest member in the group.

She was a bright ray of sunshine with her Honey colored hair and blinding white smile, she talked to all others who she considered lesser beings like they were five years old, Imogen was one of those people she considered "a lesser being"

"You never ask of me favors, you tell me what to do." Imogen replied icily, shooting Rose a dark look.

The silence was back; the members paled considerably at her icy statement.

Imogen sighed through her nose; _what a day_.

"Well give me the information I need to hear and I'll bring him back."

Shane cleared his throat;

"He escaped three nights ago and moved with incredible speed and was out of the country by the morning of his escape, we notified Aurors around the world informing them not to attack but to notify us if they spotted him. He was seen in Asia, later in Germany and now England."

"Where exactly in England?" she asked.

The five members glanced at each other as though they were afraid to tell her something.

"On the out skirts of Hogsmade, twice actually. Brittan's ministry of magic wants to interfere but we have stayed their hand telling them that only a-"

"Why is Brittan so eager to interfere? Do they have no faith in the Australian government?" Imogen snapped cutting Dora off.

"Britain - Well Fudge in a manner of speaking has become rather paranoid of late and has decided to live in "splendid isolation."' grumbled Shane obviously unhappy with this predicament.

"Splendid Isolation?"

"We have heard rumors, unpleasant ones and they seemed to have split that country in half in opinions." Wheezed Robert, easing himself upright in the chair.

"Not so long ago we were contacted by Dumbledore. He told us that Europe's most evil dark wizard has risen again." Said Rose her voice becoming small towards the end, one of her small hands covering her mouth as though she has just said a dirty word.

"That Lord Voldemort?" Imogen asked genuinely curious, she had read very little on this elusive figure as the wizarding world made a point on avoiding this particular dark figure in their history.

Again there were a few nervous glances around the room.

"Yes, and when you are in England it is not advisable to mention that name around the students or teachers, they are a bit touchier towards it unlike us." Thomas nervously spat out, his dislike for Imogen evident in the way he spoke, it was the way a ignorant pure blood spoke to their house elves; with contempt and superiority.

"Students?" Imogen asked her eyes narrowing in suspicion, they weren't telling her something, as usual.

"Yes- that is where you will continue your studies, it is close enough to Hogsmade for you to search and blend in." Rose piped up, her cheerfulness returning at the mention of something 'pleasant'.

"Once he knows I'm there blending in will be pointless- Why? I've done similar _dog hunts _for you and not once have I attended a foreign school. Why now?"

"We must consider the situation in England right now- if the rumors are true, then the most likely reason Alec is there for could be to join up with he-who-must-not-be-named!"

"What makes you think that?" Imogen snapped momentarily loosing her cool.

'Let us finish.' Wheezed Robert, at least he alone wasn't completely scared of her.

"Or, if Fudge is correct and one of the most powerful and respected wizard in the world is wrong, then Alec might be joining up with mass murderer Sirius Black." Continued Shane

There was a pause, then:

"WHY. Would. He. Want. To. Join. Either. OF. THEM?" Imogen was standing by now, her chair long forgotten.

"B-because of the area he is hanging around, both of those unsavory characters have one thing in common- Harry Potter! He is attending that school we are sending you to! Why else would Alec risk exposure to all those wizards, let alone _Dumbledore _of all people?" squeaked Dora, sinking lower into her chair.

"We believe he may be after Harry, so to be accepted by either one, if he manages to bring that boy back to them. Think about it, if you get close to the boy, then you may chance upon Alec sooner," Shane added eyeing Imogen warily, "Fudge is more in favor of the black theory, so we advise you not to give him any reason to suspect us, we can't risk breaking relations with an ally."

"Do you know if he has contacted any other suspected Death Eaters, or does he have some already backing him up?" Imogen snapped, ignoring the last statement.

"We don't know."

"Do you know any possible hide outs he may be using?"

"No"

"Anyone in Hogsmade suspected of being in contact with him?"

"We are uncertain"

"Where and when was he last seen?"

"We already told you, Early this morning, outskirts of Hogsmade."

"So," she paused looking at each of the five in turn, stone faced, "You're basically telling me to put out a fire blindfolded, without telling me just how big it is?"

"Sorry, but we don't know any more than that. You are due to leave for Brittan next week, Hogwarts school starts in three weeks time- enough time to scout around for some information that we may have missed, Knockturn alley must be crawling with rumors." offered Shane as he subconsciously traced a particularly deep scar that ran from the corner of his right eye all the way down to his bottom jaw.

Imogen bowed, then walked out from the room stiffly as though she had a red hot poker strapped to her back, and didn't bother to close the door.

"I think at this point we should delay sending her the documents on Alec's punishment." Shane said as soon as she was out of hearing range, "perhaps it is best that she does not learn of it until she is in England." The last part he muttered more to himself, a small shudder running down his spine, in all of his long years he had never had the pleasure to meet someone like the pair of them, even when he was an Auror; and he was more than content to stay the hell away from the two when they clashed.

**BirdZilla: You are all probably wondering where the heck Edward falls into all of this; it is well after the promised day and Ed has already gone travelling west in search of new knowledge… and had been given a post as an alchemy teacher in exchange to be taught magic… yes he can no longer perform alchemy- but I'm sure he would still be more than capable to teach it. Yes? As for the rest… that is a part of the plot and it would be stupid to reveal that now, wouldn't it? :P**

**and now I would love to hear some reviews, nice constructive reviews please, I'd like to know if anything needs fixing or ideas in general…. though if it really is bad enough to flame then by all means go ahead… :D**


	2. Reasons to stay, reasons to go, reasons

**The Wizard, the Alchemist, and the Hunter**

**Reviewers:**

**Dani: **I agree with you! Labor sux! (haha… us silly NQ people..)

**Anonymous: **the Australian government is the Australian government… as in the country down under…

**BirdZilla: still going a little slowly, but I don't want to rush it, because it will end up sounding like crap if I do that. Now, I do need to know if Ed's a little OOC, I mean I don't think he is but if you have a different opinion tell me. Same goes for the HP children…**

**The kiddies that ED teaches know very little about his home country only that it is hard to access and runs off Alchemy rather than magic… Ed does not go into too much detail about it, also he has been teaching at Hogwarts since the start of goblet of fire book; which is why he is acting so tame about the whole "magic exists thing"… and the students also do not know that prior to coming to the school he didn't know any magic. **

**Chapter two: Reasons to stay, reasons to go, reasons to question**

Edward paced backwards and forwards in the hallway in front of the gold Griffin statue. Dumbledore had summoned him not long ago and he had an inkling as to why. He had not yet expressed to Albus that he did not want to stay here for too long; Initially he thought maybe just a couple of years but defiantly not in the long term. Just grasping the basics of this "magic" was enough, then he'd go back home for a counsel with his younger brother who had traveled east. He had learnt many of the basics and whilst it was tempting to stay, he just couldn't.

Suddenly the griffin sprang away from the stairs and Ed, hesitating a little, proceeded to walk up them. At the door he paused; he wasn't exactly sure how to phrase it to the old man… Albus will probably try to get him to stay, most likely try to persuade him with something, perhaps more knowledge on a particular rare piece of magic? Ed shook his head vigorously, annoyed at the way his thoughts were heading and knocked on the door.

"Enter." Came the muffled voice of the headmaster.

Edward swung the door open to find Albus sitting at his desk, resting his chin on his interwoven fingers, looking down on him with that ex-raying gaze of his. Behind him were the portraits of the previous head masters of Hogwarts, all whom seemed to be fast asleep, which was highly unlikely.

"You called me Albus?" Ed asked as he crossed the room, casually flopping himself down into the chair opposite of the old wizard.

"Indeed I did Mr. Elric. It is about your decision to leave before this year's schooling commences."

There was a pause in which only the sound of Fawkes soft cooing from within the ashes could be heard.

"I never actually voiced that desire sir." Edward said slowly analyzing the old mans face… what was it exactly that had given him away?

"Indeed you didn't, but I guessed as much from after you arrived at Hogwarts last year. But you see I have called you here, as you have probably already guessed, to ask you to remain a teacher here at Hogwarts."

"Look, Its not like I don't like you or your "magic" school, its just that I have some things to take care of and I only wanted to stay here long enough to grasp the basics of magic, which I have now."

"My dear Edward! You have done more than grasp the basics! You are quite the prodigy! In the space of fourteen months you have excelled further in your magical studies than most of the students here at this school!"

Edward sighed, the old man made it seem a lot easier than it actually was. He remembered that there were times where he had been behind in grading the papers of his students because he had spent most of him time studying and practicing magic… and making up excuses when ever a student caught him reading the _standard book of spells grade seven._ Thankfully there were times where Granger had come through for him, and made excuses without even realizing the truth that he was actually learning the art at the time. She said something along the lines of "Light reading is good every now and then, no matter what the book is!"

"Even so," Edward continued slowly, "I cannot see the reason as to continue to stay here much longer… like I said; I have to sort some things out back home."

"Is it really that urgent?" Albus asked, surveying him through his half moon spectacles.

"Well… Its not dire if that's what you mean." He mumbled, avoiding his gaze.

"Well, would you consider staying; I need you to help me with something. And I think that only you would be suitable for the job." The old wizards tone had changed into one of business, "Edward, do you remember the events that happened at the end of the last school term?"

Ed frowned as he remembered the mildly disturbing way the inter-school wizarding game had ended. It was one of the reasons he had also been willing to get back home as soon as possible, he did not want to get involved in another fight, especially not in a country where things could go pear-shaped quickly; what with the ministry plastering the events that happened as an unfortunate accident and telling the world that Dumbledore was loosing touch with reality. It reeked with conspiracy. He himself had been against the games to begin with- not liking the way the actual tasks were set up, and then, there was that imposter "death eater".

He never even liked "mad-eye-moody" much to begin with. It might have been something to do with the way he kept watching his every movements… but then again that was the imposter, not the real person.

And now a supposed evil wizard was back from the dead, which shouldn't be possible- unless of course this was a homunculus, and in which case he was quite happy to pack his bags and leave immediately.

"Yes." Edward replied wary

"Well in light of those events I have had to gather the forces of the order of the Phoenix once more. This is a secret organization that lives for the purpose for overthrowing Voldemort. It is now that I reach my point; I would like to extend to you my request for you to join the order."

Edward paused, his mind turning over all that he was told, trying to come to a decision, to reach a logical out come.

"So, in saying this, the ministry is wrong? This evil wizard is really back from beyond the grave?" making the skepticism in his voice painfully obvious.

"He was never really dead to begin with Edward." Albus softly replied, "He just didn't have a proper body until now. And it is actually Fudge and a few others who are saying that this is incorrect, this is because they do not want to have to go back to the fear and panic that he had caused last time. I understand why they are doing this… but it is rather frustrating that they do not dare face the facts because of this fear."

Edward decided against pursuing that particular subject any longer- though he did want to know just how on earth that this wizard could survive without a proper body…. Was his soul like Alphonses' once? Attached to an object?

"But why do you wish me to join? Albus you know I can no longer perform alchemy and furthermore I can not see how I could be any use for this job you want me to perform. Albus, I'm sorry to be blunt with you but I have just come from a war in my own country and I have no desire to get caught up in another one!" Ed had to restrain himself from shouting at the headmaster, though the fact that he was seriously irritated by this did not go unnoticed.

"You do not have to answer me right away Edward, I will allow you to think on it if that is what you wish, but at least hear what I have to say about your task." Ed was embarrassed by the clam way in which the professor had addressed him after his rather rude out-burst. He had never been able to get a rise out of this man.

"Amongst the reports that the ministry is not reporting is one of a dangerous recently escaped convict from an allied country, Australia. That country has also had a hand in covering this up because of the nature of the escapee, and have sent one of their own to deal with this. But, there was a catch- to allow the person into the country to hunt down the fugitive who has taken into hiding in somewhere around Hogsmade, she must attend this school."

"Why? What is the point in that? If they wanted this person to catch the convict quickly wouldn't they give them free-rein?"

"Yes, that would be the smart thing to do, but the ministry has sent the hunter here because her nature is like that of the escapee, and they consider her just as big a threat as they consider the convict, so they want to keep her in a place where they can keep an eye on her."

"Here? But why on earth-"Ed stopped short, realizing what he was saying, "Just who exactly is taking up the position of Defense against the Dark arts?"

"The ministry has seen fit to appoint one of their own for this position because I have been "unable" to find someone else suitable for the job."

"Does this mean… that because of what you have been saying recently about this Voldemort, that the ministry wants to interfere here at Hogwarts, to discredit you?"

"Precisely."

Another of the many long silences ensued as Edward took it all in.

"Exactly what do you want me to do about all of this?" He asked, finally looking up at Albus, crossing his arms

"I would very much like it if you look after her, not directly though, for I think she would be quick to decline offers of help. No, just watch on from afar, and it is important that you do not let any one, including the new teacher from the ministry know you are doing so, it could complicate matters."

"Is that everything?" Albus nodded, "Then, there is one question I have to ask- why me?"

"Because you are rather good at inadvertently helping people, as I have witnessed, and because you have an impeccable skill with magic, something you your self cannot deny. Will you accept my offer to stay and help me with this? Or do you want some more time to think this over?"

Ed's mind was going at a million miles an hour trying to process the information and come to a conclusion. Truth to be told he would rather stay and learn more of this magic instead of just relying on the shaky grasp he had on it at the moment… he had so much more to get through in potions… and it was only to watch over this brat for a little while, hopefully the convict will be caught soon and he wont have to do much. But agreeing to this job would mean he would have to agree to joining up with this secret group known as the order of the phoenix... if worst comes to worst he might actually have to fight in the end for this cause, and he had his family to think about. Could he take the task on with out joining the Order? That seemed highly unlikely, there was a lot that the headmaster was not telling him and it seemed that he will not know any more than he did now unless he joined up…

Perhaps he should think about it more, like the professor suggested.

**Some days later**

Fred heaved a deep sigh at the news that the kitchen door was not an option for the extendable ears.

"Shame. I really fancied finding out what Old Snape's been up to."

"Snape!" said Harry sitting up "Is he here?"

"Yeah," said George closing the door, "Giving a report, and from the sounds of things, Professor Elric is in on the conversation too. "

"Wait- Professor Elric the Alchemy teacher?" Harry asked, raising an eyebrow; he had not expected the blunt, short tempered and sometimes downright rude professor to be in the order.

"Yeah, only he never actually turns up in person, I heard from mum that he listens in and reports to the meetings via the Floo network. And from what we learned on the extendable ears it's about some person he has to keep an eye on, someone the ministry themselves is also watching. I wonder what that is about..."

"But why doesn't turn up in person?" Harry asked looking around the room as though he was waiting for the wall paper to give him answers.

"Dunno mate, Elric is a strange one, and I think it is safe to leave it at that." Ron replied with a shrug.

"Though you have to admit that it is rather odd that whilst he is apart of the order he doesn't actually show up in person at all." Said Hermione sounding as though she was voicing her thoughts aloud, "Perhaps he is off doing this job abroad?"

"Nah, I've heard him talking to Dobby once on the other side of the fire before mum found out about the extendable ears," George said frowning in thought, "he must still be within the Hogwarts."

"Maybe we could ask him in person, we are after all in the order." Ginny piped up.

"Are you mental?" Ron said in horror, "He'd go nuts on us! Have you not heard the stories? His temper is really short Ginny! Once he almost beat the living crap out of a Slytherin for some passing comment he made about him!"

"It is still worth a try." She huffed, folding her arms.

"All that aside, I'd still love to know what that git Snape is reporting..."

"He's on our side now," Hermione said reproving tone, frowning at Fred.

"Still..."

**BirdZilla: Just like to point out here, before I forget- I do not own these wonderful stories, or I'd be rich... and for the love of writing I might still be here writing fan fiction- but with a difference, I'd be rich. But because I have established the fact that I am indeed NOT rich, I therefore must quite obviously NOT own those stories... this is the first and last time I'll do this disclaimer because I should think I only need to do it once, Agreed?**

**R&R please!**


	3. Finding Answerless Questions

**The Wizard, the Alchemist, and the Hunter**

**Reviewers: **

**Charlotte:** as one of the original readers I am happy you approve of the revised version!

**BirdZilla: yeah- still rather slow, but it is getting there! Soon it will get interesting! (I hope) the main point of this chapter is to get more of Imogens' personality developed and more of an insight into "her" the sorting will be done next chapter! So stay tuned!**

**Chapter three: Finding Answerless Questions**

**

* * *

**

It had been almost three weeks since she had begun staying in the leaky cauldron, three weeks of limited information three weeks worth of nervous glances and tense atmospheres- though that was nothing new.

For the time she had been here she had scouted around the area, both Muggle and wizarding. Imogen came to the conclusion that the Muggles in this area saw a lot of strange things and never really thought twice about it, so that was a dead end. Diagon alley was just as helpful; it was like they all had their heads in the sand, not even the ministry officials who had been at the leaky cauldron to greet her (much against their will) were of much help at all.

"Freaken' "splendid isolation!" she snarled savagely kicking out at the bed post's leg, which buckled, causing more cursing from her end as she clutched her throbbing foot.

The one thing that irked her more than anything else was the fact that people in Knockturn alley _knew_ something, but trying to extract information from them was an easy as a staring contest with a statue. The only thing she managed to get out of the owner of the shop _Borgin and Burkes,_ without resorting to the Cruciatus curse, was that he had been in that very shop not to long ago.

She couldn't pick up his scent though because of the layer of _dust_ and other unspeakable scents she was picking up instead. So without further ado she threatened the greasy owner that if she ever found out that he told anyone she was here looking for him she would personally come over for a quick visit from which he truly would never recover from.

And now she was out of time, for tomorrow she'd have to get on the train for that stupid school, and waste her time with school work when she could be out prowling the streets for the bastard. She had hoped to catch him returning to Diagon or at least to that filthy shop in Knockturn, but that hope had been faint, and it turned out that she was right about him; he wasn't as stupid to return to any place more than once without double checking the people in his surroundings. He was smarter than to just walk into a populated area a second time without making sure his pursuers had left the area entirely, or he simply wouldn't go back. He was paranoid like that.

Truth to be told she was surprised to find that he had in fact been in a populated area. She had been at loath to check in the beginning, thinking that if he had been seen around Hogsmade then he wouldn't have traveled as far out as Diagon, but they had suggested it and she had nothing to do for three weeks… and what do you know he _had_ been here.

The fact that he had been in this area the day he escaped meant that he had help, wizarding help. But it hardly made sense to her; Alec _loathed_ wizards. So why would he accept help from one?

"_Reparo"_ she breathed out waving her wand at the bed leg, then flopped on the bed itself.

Imogen _still _didn't fully understand _why_ they were sending her to this school, it was illogical, there really was no proper reason for it and she knew that the Managers were keeping whatever the "real reason" was from her; until now they had been quite happy to let her run rampant around countries chasing other people until she dragged them back.

Imogen sighed; perhaps it was because of a lack of trust? She didn't like it though, it felt as though she was being caged in again, backed into a corner where there was no escape.

* * *

The train station was busy; Smoke and the sounds of excited animals filled the air and the students and parents crowed the platform to say their tearful goodbyes to each other. Imogen stood still for a moment in the middle of the platform taking in all the commotion around her. Suddenly she was visited by a fleeting desire to just leave all her luggage on the train and make her way to Hogsmade by foot… as though she never made it to the school… it would be so easy, she could say that she picked up a lead later if they caught up with her…. She would avoid the entire going to school thing.

Suddenly the train conductor blew on his whistle and Imogen was broken out of her daydreaming as the mass of people were suddenly surging towards the doors of the Hogwarts express. And she reluctantly followed.

Once on the train Imogen began looking for a compartment that she could have to herself-or mostly to her self anyway.

"Look out!" snapped an older student who had his toes stood on by her foot. Imogen turned and glared at him, her eyes narrowing into to slits. The student who had been halfway in a compartment door paled considerably at the look she had given him and slid out from the door and walked off in the opposite direction. Imogen now found herself standing in front of a miraculously empty compartment.

Once settled she realized that the train had already started moving- much to her surprise; she had been so distracted by her surroundings that she had not noticed the train lurching forward to start the long journey. Imogen shook her head berating herself for not paying more attention.

And speaking of attention, there was a group of people just outside of her compartment door talking in hushed whispers. Suddenly the door flew open and there was the boy from before standing with three others, two who looked like mountain trolls and a smaller one with platinum blonde hair.

This scene on its own instantly screamed trouble.

"That's her Malfoy! The one who purposefully stomped on my foot! _And _stole this compartment I was saving for us!" The kid form earlier said to the blonde boy, who now had a little smirk creeping up on his face as he looked her up and down.

"Good of you to tell me Blaise, we will not be tolerating any bullying from any one- regardless of who they are. Who _are_ you anyway? I don't believe any of us have had the pleasure of meeting you before."

"Imogen Brandwick." She answered her eyes not moving from the two hulking figures in the back; they were more likely to be the ones who attack, rather than the leader or the accessory. She had a sudden nostalgic flash back to her younger days of schooling… hopefully this will end differently, in fact it most likely will now that Alec was not around. It was just a question if she could get out of this situation _without_ sending kids to the infirmary.

"And what year are you entering Brandwick?" he sneered, his voice touching on that special part of her brain that was very fragile and was liable to snap quite easily.

"Fifth." Imogen breathed out, hardly moving her lips as she sat stock still.

"So, you must be that new exchange student, my father has told me _a lot_ about you. I can't even _believe _that they let something like you enter our school! You're worse than a mudblood! Just wait until the rest of the school finds out-"

Before she knew it she had reached out and grabbed the Malfoy boy by the collar of his robes and jerked him down level to her face, whilst she slipped her wand from out of her sleeve and was pressing it to the boys' temple.

Out of the corner of her eyes she saw the others freeze in shock.

"Mr. Malfoy…. Malfoy… now where have I heard that name before?" she whispered into his ear while he struggled against her grip, "Oh, now I remember! It was on a list of death eaters that I was given!" the boy froze.

"Sounds as though your daddy is a man worth speaking too…. I should like to meet him and have a little discussion about some things… but of course you know _exactly _what that would be about, wouldn't you since daddy tells you everything, about why I am here- He did after all go to all the trouble to tell you what I was, maybe he mentioned another? Perhaps you've met him? You know- six foot two, emerald eyes, chestnut hair, dangerous atmosphere… no?" She sniffed his neck a little, revealing no trace of his scent.

She let out a disappointed sigh, and released him, and watched half amused as he staggered backwards.

"If you aren't bluffing, and you actually have some substance about what you know about me I suggest you keep it to your self for the time I am here… and if I get any whiff of him around you, whether it is his scent or a simple rumor- you can expect a visit from me."

The four stood still, not moving from the spot, all pale and shaking- but none were more scared than the Malfoy boy, who looked as though he'd pass out.

"Why are you still here?" she asked dryly, and they all turned and fled.

The rest of the train ride went without any more events, although there were some rumors flying around that there was some kind of "demon student" on the train somewhere. But aside from that it was rather peaceful.

When the train pulled up in Hogsmade Imogen jumped awake, partially because of an unsettling dream and partly because of a loud and sharp whistle that the conductor had blown- just out side of her window.

Grumbling and rubbing her aching ear that had been pressed up against the glass at the time, she disembarked with everyone, and collected her luggage.

Disembarking was just as noisy as embarking she thought with a scowl- it was giving her an irritating headache, and plus- there were just way too many people for her comfort.

"Fist years this way!" came a clipped voice of an elderly woman, "This way first years!"

_Oh for the love of god, must you shout __**that**__ much? __**That**__ loudly?_

Imogen supposed that she, whilst she was a new student, should follow the flow of all the older students to where she was told the carriages were- she wasn't actually told were she was supposed to go, and it wasn't like she wanted to humiliate her self by sitting in one of the tiny boats with all the first years ogling at her in awe.

So the carriages it was.

Imogen dragged her luggage behind her without any thought for its contents, or about the stares she was attracting. Suddenly someone crashed into her shoulder, and wheeled off in the other direction disappearing into the crowd. It had been Malfoy- but she had caught his expression, and from it she could gauge that she had made him more than just slightly angry… but Imogen was confident that he'd keep his mouth shut about her… unless he wanted life at home to become somewhat, strained…

She sighed and continued on toward the carriages, and stopped in surprise as she saw what was attached to them.

"Thestrals," she mumbled to her self as she watched the nearest dragonish creature flick its ears in irritation at a fly, "Honestly, Thestrals?" it was rather odd to be confronted with a creature that she had only ever heard about, a creature that she was supposedly able to see ever since… but never had the chance to prove the theory until now. It was fascinating and yet it brought back such memories.

Suddenly the heavy scent of Alec wafted towards her making her jump in surprise. She pushed her way through the crowd, following its scent, her luggage long forgotten. And then it was gone as quickly as it had come; the wind had changed direction and she now found her self standing in the half empty track half listening to a conversation between a red-haired boy and a black haired boy.

Did that just happen? Or was she imagining it? Was it really him?

* * *

**BirdZilla: dunn- dunn- dunn! Nah- not really all that climatic : P bit of a short chappy too...**

**R&R!**


End file.
